Clouded Leopard

Here's a post on Facebook from an expert birder, Peter Ericsson ..........

"Moment of magic!

This morning I had a wildlife experience that almost blew my socks off! Absolutely one of my best highlights ever!
My friend Walter told me early in the morning as we were getting ready to go birding: ‘it is Friday the 13th, I hope a black cat doesn’t cross the road’…….My reply was something to the sort off “well, I don’t really buy into that type of superstition, if you accept it it might have that rule over you”.

After a few hours of birding inside of Kaengkrachan National Park we headed back out towards Petchaburi in pursuit of Spoon-billed Sandpiper. As Walter had forgotten to return the room key we had to go back to Baan Maka.
Only 5 minutes drive from Baan Maka a most impressive feline suddenly crossed the road about 10 meters in front of our car. I immediately shouted ‘Leopard’ but something was different with the jizz. Suddenly I realized all the features were consistent with Clouded Leopard and after a quick Google search we both knew we had seen a real living Clouded Leopard right in front of your eyes when we least expected it. The animal had a very long tail and elongated body with short legs and that was considerably darker then the common Leopard I have previously seen on a few occasions.
I have reviewed this sighting a hundred times in my mind’s eye today, realizing how incredibly fortunate we were. Just total magic!

That is very exciting!
Especially since it is 'outside' the park (officially maybe not outside the park boundaries, but rather close to human habitation) .
I have heard Marbled Cat has been photographed once at one of those birding hides 'outside' the park several years back. And I remember reading in one of the research papers that Leopard (P. pardus) has been found around the borders of the park in farm land.
So the presence of Clouded Leopard would not be unlikely. Still from my own sightings, and from most camera trap locations I assumed this species prefers a bit better forest quality than what is found outside the park.

Coincidently, last week I met up with a guy who told me about his last visit in Kaeng Krachan, end of November 2016. After a couple days stay, he was picked up in the park by a taxi driver who drove him to Bangkok. He was actually not sure which route they had been driving on the way out, so not sure if they took the left turn at Padang Camp or went straight, but he told he found a roadkill Clouded Leopard outside the park!
The blood was still 'wet' so it was recently hit. Sadly he did not take a picture for confirmation. He assumed Clouded Leopard, but when I asked if it could also have been a Marbled Cat he admitted it could actually have been either one as he was not that familiar with these two species. But the pattern was clearly 'clouded'.

I guess all the forested mountains/ hills around the various large parks could host various surprises.

This week on facebook I also noticed a post of a tiger that was found in Thoen, Lampang. Somebody else posted a cam trap picture of an individual which is known as HKT178, which judging from the coat pattern is the same as the Lampang tiger. I am speculating here, as my Thai reading abilities are very poor, and google translate only helps a tiny bit. But I assume the 'HK' in HKT178 stands for Huai Kha Khaeng, and T of course for tiger plus its number. And when looking on google maps, it is almost continuous forest from HKK towards Lampang with few big obstructions like roads. But that is a looong way. I am not a huge fan of radio collars, but it would have been very exciting if this individual had been followed...
I would guess it is unlikely that it was captured alive by poachers, then transported alive and somehow escaped... A quick google search shows that a radio-collared tigress in India had travelled 250km from one to another park, so it would not be impossible.
If this animal really migrated all the way to Lampang, it really proves the importance of 'nature corridors'. And it shows that these species could make a real comeback if of course hunting of prey (and predator) species would totally stop. And especially if ecoducts are built at strategical spots.

Sorry for going off topic, haha, but these kind of sightings get me very excited...
Thanks for sharing!